Construction Program Management and Inspection Guide

2. Background
Historical Developments in
Construction Inspection
Early History
During the early years, the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR)
was the main technical source for State highway agencies and
county road departments. BPR field engineers were frequently
looked upon to help solve complicated design or
construction problems. All active construction projects,
other than those under the Secondary Road Plan, which was
initiated in 1954, were typically inspected once a month. The
National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (NHS-
1995) eliminated the Secondary Road Plan.
The Early Interstate Period
When Congress funded the Interstate Highway Program in
the 1950s, only a few State highway agencies were staffed
with enough engineers to design and construct a national
highway network of such magnitude. The BPR, therefore,
made monthly field reviews of all projects and conducted
rigorous inspections-in-depth (IIDs). Most BPR engineers
had strong field construction backgrounds, and their advice
was actively sought on contract matters and field changes.
The Blatnik Era
In the early 1960s, with increased dollars being spent on
construction of the Interstate Highway System, came
charges of waste, fraud, and corruption. Many of the news
media, including the Huntley-Brinkley Journal, Reader’s
Digest, and Parade Magazine, called the Federal and State
governments to task for failing to control activities and
expenditures.
A number of investigations were conducted by the
Blatnik Committee of Congress (chaired by Rep. John
Blatnik of Minnesota, former Chairman of the House
Committee on Public Works), the General Accounting
Office, and the BPR’s Project Examination Division—
forerunner of the Office of Audits and Investigations and
later the Office of Inspector General. IIDs were used as a
method to investigate corruption and fraud in response to
the charge to the highway community to assure that its own
house was in order.
Background
CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND INSPECTION GUIDE (5/01/04)
Evolution of Highway Agencies
In 1967, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)
was formed, and the BPR became the Federal Highway
Administration. By the 1970s, the FHWA had developed
considerable confidence in the technical competence and
abilities in construction management of State highway
agencies. A number of other topics, particularly social, economic,
and environmental considerations, were vying for
FHWA’s attention.
FHWA faced the dilemma of not being able to maintain
the previous level of project-level reviews. The answer to this
problem was to turn a greater degree of direct project
responsibility over to the States in the form of Certification
Acceptance, an alternative authorization procedure for
administering non-Interstate Federal-aid projects, and to
rely on a process review approach for the assurances that the
Federal Government needed. The theory was that if the
process was good, the product would be, too. This new
independence may have been good for the States, but many
FHWA field engineers coming aboard in the last two decades
have not had the same field experience and technical
exposure that FHWA engineers once had.
The enactment of the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) dramatically
changed the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal
role. The Federal-State partnership was changed by offering
the States more independence in carrying out a significant
portion of the program by enabling FHWA to delegate to
them, upon their request, the majority of Title 23 project
decisions. These delegations are defined through
stewardship agreements between the respective FHWA
division offices and the (STAs). Non-Title 23 activities,
however, such as the National Environmental Policy Act
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